As they work to build downtown Orlando's high-tech community of the future, the developers of Creative Village have discovered there's value in the city's past.

Developer Craig Ustler and architect Tim Baker have decided not to tear down the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, which had been set to meet a wrecking ball after the new Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts was finished.

The aging theater has a place in their sprawling technology village, after all.

"The more we think about the Bob Carr as an Orlando asset, the more we're really getting attached to it," Baker said. "I think we've done a total 180 and we will be doing some sort of creative reuse."

Likewise, the Downtown Recreation Center — known to longtime residents as the old Armory — will be saved, too. The developers envision preserving the 1938 building's art deco facades, fusing them to a new and larger addition.

"Both of these are attractive buildings," Ustler said. "They speak to a certain time period and they have a lot of historical things that have happened to them."

It seems counterintuitive for the digital-centric Creative Village, a 68-acre development on the edge of downtown that was home to the old Amway Arena. In 2010, the city selected Creative Village Development LLC to remake the property into a neighborhood of technology companies, educational institutions, workers, students and homes.

But visit a tech startup in San Francisco, and it's just as likely to be housed in an old brick building as a gleaming tower of glass and steel.

There's no firm plan for the Carr performing arts center. But Baker and Ustler say the theater could be re-purposed as headquarters for a tech company, flex space for a small firm that wants room to grow, or even a video gaming studio. Regardless, Ustler thinks it could still serve a community purpose, as well.

One thing is certain: It won't be a performing arts center anymore. It can't host performances that would compete with the Dr. Phillips Center once it opens, a stipulation in the city's deal with the nonprofit group that will run the new building.

Whatever happens, it won't be soon. While Broadway Across America will move to the Dr. Phillips Center next season, the Bob Carr will continue to host the Orlando Ballet, Orlando Philharmonic and some other shows until both phases of the Dr. Phillips Center are finished. That won't be until 2018 at the earliest.

The Carr building's next phase won't include its current exterior. What used to be known as the Municipal Auditorium was renovated in the mid-1970s, and the expansion added a glass shell around the original structure. Plans now call for stripping away that shell to expose the vintage facade.

As for the Downtown Recreation Center, the Creative Village development plan approved by the city left its future up in the air; the developers would be allowed to demolish it as long as they built a new one, perhaps in a different location.

But Ustler and Baker said the building is important to Parramore and Orlando, so it will stay. An addition would extend the building on its south and east sides.

Nothing has been built on the Creative Village land yet. Infrastructure work is expected to start early next year on an expansion of the Lymmo bus circulator line, and the realignment of Livingston Street through the property.

Ustler said there are no firm plans in place, but the developer is "pursuing multiple opportunities" — mostly office development but also educational and multifamily residential — that could lead to construction in 2014.

Mayor Buddy Dyer supports preserving the old municipal buildings.

"It would be nice to utilize a historic building," Dyer said. "I think we're open to different possibilities. As the Creative Village evolves, it will become clearer what the best use would be."

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre would host Broadway Across America shows until at least 2018. In fact, those performances will move to the new Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in the 2014-2015 season, while the Orlando Ballet, Orlando Philharmonic and some other shows will remain at the Bob Carr.